Interbike Tech: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Interbike: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Fairwheel Bikes in Tucson, Arizona is one of the world's premier high-end shops, dealing high-end, tough to find brands and building incredible custom projects. Every year, the shop brings a collection of its latest builds to Interbike. Last year, it had a mountain bike with sequential Shimano Di2 on hand — one button to shift up, one to shift down, with both front and rear derailleurs shifting intelligently to provide perfect gear jumps. This year, owner Jason Woznick brought some beautiful bikes and gave VeloNews an early tour, starting with this custom Cherubim. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

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Cherubims are built by master frame builder and artisan Shin-ichi Konno in Japan. The company was founded by his father, and the company built bikes for Japanese Olympians in the 1960s. Now, it's known for unbelievable artistry. The down tube of this frame is split, with derailleur housing running along each tube. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Interbike: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Interbike: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Next up: an 8.86-pound Crumpton, which Nick Crumpton and Woznick built purely as a show bike. The carbon frame is matched up with the lightest of the light: an aluminum Recon cassette, Clavicula carbon crank, Schmolke components, and the same Tune wheels that Chris Froome used at this year's Tour de France (yes, we have finally confirmed that they were Tune rims, not AX-Lightness. They look exactly the same.). Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Interbike: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Interbike: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Mystery solved: we saw these rims on Chris Froome's Tour bike, and Bradley Wiggins' Giro bike, but couldn't figure out what they were. The carbon pattern is identical to the AX-Lightness rims that have been around for a few years now, but they didn't have AX's trademark resin patch. Now we know: Tune purchased an unnamed German manufacturer (not AX) and is building these rims themselves. Sky bought a few and laced them to Dura-Ace hubs. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Interbike: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Interbike: Touring Fairwheel Bikes

Fairwheel brought back its sequential Di2 system on this Bedford lugged frame. The TRP brake levers each have been retrofitted with a single shift button — left goes to an easier gear, right goes to a harder one. Photo: Caley Fretz | VeloNews.com

Caley Fretz

Associate Editor Caley Fretz can be found chasing races along the backroads of Europe or testing bikes and gear in the mountains outside Boulder, Colorado. If you can't find him there, check the coffee shop across from VN World Headquarters.